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Annabelle 6 weeks early, but first St. Mary’s baby of 2010

Baby Annabelle Scott just couldn’t wait any longer and risk not being the first baby born in 2010 at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Six weeks premature, Anabelle was born at 4:44 a.m. at the hospital to first-time parents Jessy and Matthew Scott.

“She’s beautiful to me,” Jessy Scott said while resting in bed.

It will be at least a couple weeks until little Annabelle, who weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce and was 18 3/4 inches, will be able to come home with her parents to their Mack home.

Jessy, 19, and Matthew Scott, 18, spent New Year’s Day at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, where Annabelle was breathing with the help of a ventilator. She will have to learn to breathe and eat at the same time, but she is an otherwise healthy child, nurses said.

Her tiny hand grasped one finger of her mother’s hand, and her tiny body was bright red from crying.

Jessy Scott said she started having contractions early New Year’s Eve, and she was in labor for seven hours.

“Wow, this one is mine,” Matthew Scott said about being a new parent. “She’s here safe and in good hands.”

Jessy Scott will stay in the hospital for a few more days, and Matthew Scott said he will visit the hospital daily until they can bring Annabelle home.

Just moments after Annabelle was born, baby Levi was born in another room of the hospital.

Levi James Wilson, 7 pounds 3 1/2 ounces and 19 1/4 inches, was born to Becky and Doug Wilson of Grand Junction.

Little Levi made a valiant effort to be the first baby born at the hospital in the new year, but missed the mark by three minutes, born at 4:47 a.m.

Becky Wilson said her child’s due date wasn’t until Jan. 22, but her water broke at 1:30 a.m. Friday.

“I said, ‘It’s time to go to the hospital’ ” Becky Wilson said she told her husband. “Just a few hours later, he was born.”

Levi slept through his first 15 minutes of fame as reporters cooed over him, taking photos and video of his little body wrapped in a blanket.

“He’s already a snuggler,” Doug Wilson said.

Levi will join the couple’s 4-year-old son, Trevor. Becky Wilson said Trevor is excited about being a big brother, but he is unsure about having to share his toys.